Definition of "maudlin" []

• Effusively or tearfully sentimental: "displayed an almost maudlin concern for the welfare of animals” ( Aldous Huxley). See Synonyms at sentimental. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Mary Magdalene inspires, these women say, because she was not a weakling -- the weeping Magdalene whose name begat the English word "maudlin" but a person of strength and character."
• "They whined insolently, and in maudlin tones begged me for pennies, and worse."
• "The word maudlin (67), and the complicated mixed metaphor in which the gilded toy of line 68 apparently becomes a sweetmeat in 69, suggest that Shelley is subtly alluding to the Prince of Wales's sentimental love affair with the twice-widowed Maria Fitzherbert (1756-1837), a Roman Catholic whom he could not wed legally without forfeiting the crown."